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Design Focuses on Making Homes Emotionally Rich

In her assessment of what today’s home buyers want, Gayle Butler, editor-in-chief of Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications — Building/Remodeling, told convention-goers at last month’s International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas that there is no dominant design trend in today’s marketplace. But builders can steer their homes to success if they understand that their customers are motivated by one new rule: “I want what works for me.”

Reviewing about 1,000 new and remodeled homes a year, Butler said that today’s buyers are looking for “a home that’s emotionally rich.” They are looking for space that’s “planned for the way we live,” space that’s personal and conducive to relaxation and amenities that help home owners simplify and streamline.

“The great big world out there is a high anxiety place and home buyers are saying it doesn’t have to be,” said Butler.

She listed new design features throughout the house as prime ingredients in the emotionally rich house that buyers want:

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• Kitchen design should be guided by considerations of how the room will be used on a daily basis — for cooking, informal dining, grab-and-go meals, as a message center, as a place where the kids will do their homework.
• Super-sized work islands can tie together the far-flung work areas of busy kitchens.
• There is a little more interest in separate kitchens, with more traditional separation from other parts of the house; etched or translucent sliding panels are one solution “we will be seeing much more of.”
• More than ever, style counts — in the kitchen and elsewhere. “Finish to a much higher level,” Butler advises. “Making things beautiful or interesting is as valuable as making things work.” To understand how good design has become a critical selling point, she recommends reading “The Substance of Style — How the Rise of Aesthetic Values Is Remaking Commerce, Culture and Consciousness” by Virginia Postrel.
• Living spaces should strike a balance between spaciousness and intimacy; high ceilings remain popular, but they should be more human in scale. Windows above or breaking into the ceiling line are desirable.
• Buyers are looking for more solid, physical separation of space. “Buyers still love separate dining rooms,” she said. “This is an important room for making memories.”
• There should be a much higher degree of finish and amenities in informal spaces. “Buyers are eager to invest in built-ins,” Butler said, “and we really want storage.” Finishes should provide warmth and texture. Brazilian cherry floors, tufted materials on the wall and recycled elements such as architectural salvage and antique bricks are examples of products that work.
• “Alcoves, nooks and niches are coming back,” she said. They provide emotional detail and add utility to space. One example: a water fountain recessed in a back hall.
• Bathrooms are going off in two directions: ultra-open and see-through on secluded lots where privacy is not an issue; and places to preserve modesty, where vanities are used as dividers and “sinks are becoming a super-storage place.”
• There is growing interest in specialty spaces — laundry rooms, mud rooms and back entries, garages and outdoor rooms.
• “Authentic exteriors” are staying close to European and American precedents.

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